17 September – World Patient Safety Day 2020 – Speak Up for Health Worker Safety!
Today, 17 September, marks World Patient Safety Day.
No one should be harmed in healthcare. Yet thousands of patients across the world suffer avoidable harm or are put at risk of injury while receiving healthcare every single day.
Sepsis is one of the biggest threats to patient safety worldwide, affecting 47 to 50 million people a year, many of them preventable. Therefore, the Global Sepsis Alliance wholeheartedly supports World Patient Safety Day and encourages you to participate.
Patient Safety is especially important in times of COVID-19 - the worldwide pandemic has unveiled the huge challenges and risks health workers are facing globally, including healthcare-associated infections, violence, stigma, psychological and emotional disturbances, illness, and even death. Furthermore, working in stressful environments makes health workers more prone to errors which can lead to patient harm. Consequently, the World Patient Safety Day theme is ‘Health Worker Safety: A Priority for Patient Safety’ with the call for action ‘Speak up for health worker safety’.
About World Patient Safety Day
Recognizing patient safety as a global health priority, all 194 WHO Member States at the 72nd World Health Assembly, in May 2019, endorsed the establishment of World Patient Safety Day (Resolution WHA72.6), to be marked annually on 17 September. The objectives of World Patient Safety Day are to increase public awareness and engagement, enhance global understanding, and spur global solidarity and action to promote patient safety.
APS Livestream - 14h German Time
For this special occasion, our friends from the German Coalition for Patient Safety (Aktionsbündnis Patientensicherheit) are hosting an event, which will be livestreamed at 14:00h CEST (in German).